Page 70 of The One

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Share Our Values

The following week, Rick was talking to some coworkers in Lake Placid.

He’d arrived yesterday morning a little before ten when the retreat was supposed to start. He had to admit Nick Buchanan had picked a beautiful resort for them to stay at. They had an entire floor to themselves, the use of the hotel as they needed and a big conference room blocked off for both days.

The first day had been about meeting key team players. Twenty in all total. All higher level management positions. He hadn’t thought of himself as a key player, but all the technical managers were and he’d been included with them.

They’d hashed out company goals and products, where things stood, the forecast of the company and steps to move forward with a project he’d been assigned to.

Last night, they’d gone out to eat and he retired to his room. Nick Buchanan, Zach Monroe and Caleb Ryder all went to their homes at night and came back bright and early.

Some of the other staff here went to the bar for a drink. They’d asked him to join them, and in the end he did once he called Gillian and talked to her, made sure that George was fine and she was in the house.

This morning was more of the same as yesterday and he felt good about the company he was working for. More than he thought he would.

“You’ve got a clear drive ahead of you to get home,” Nick said, coming over to talk to him. The day was done at this point. Most of the employees had left to catch flights, but since he was driving Nick asked him to stay back and meet with him and Zach.

“Thankfully,” he said. “If not, I would have stayed another night. No reason to push myself. I’m just getting used to driving in the snow again as it is.”

“The one thing I hate about it here,” Zach said. “Caleb can’t stand it either.”

Caleb Ryder walked over. He’d been out of the room but just returned. “What can’t I stand other than listening to you yap so much, Zach?”

Rick found it funny that Zach did seem to do more talking than Nick, the owner of the company, but he’d heard they were best friends and Zach did have shares in the company.

“You love me, Caleb. You know it. You’ve got no choice. We are just too connected.”

Caleb’s eyes looked like he wanted to laugh, but his lips didn’t move. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Nick looked at him. “This is a small area. I’m sure you’ll hear about a lot of our six degrees of separation. In short, Caleb’s sister-in-law works with Zach’s wife.”

“I have to put up with him for that reason,” Caleb said.

“Stop,” Zach said. “Or I’ll sic Rene on you.”

“And Rene is my sister, who is Caleb’s sister-in-law that I mentioned.”

“Huh?” he asked.

“It gets confusing,” Caleb said. “Which is why I keep to myself, but no one lets me anymore.”

Nick laughed. It seemed no one took anything Caleb said to heart. “Caleb’s wife, Celeste, and Cole, my sister Rene’s husband, are twins.”

“Okay, got that.”

“My wife, Amber, works with Rene,” Zach said.

“And my wife, Mallory’s best friend is Quinn, who is married to Amber and Rene’s boss,” Nick said.

“Wow,” he said. “This is more complicated than the relationships I’m trying to follow in Paradise Place.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Zach said. “Either way, one thing you’ll learn is it’s business but we’re family too.”

Zach put his arm around Nick. “Those two make me sick,” Caleb said.

Rick laughed. “It seems to be working well.”

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